Sunday, 8 March 2015

So on the 6th of March, my school and i headed out to take a daytrip to Belgium.

(Details on the journey and all will be written in my upcoming blogpost 'Belgium - Behind the scenes')

The main idea of the trip was to position ourselves before the 100,000s+ graves to allow us to visualise the great impact World War One had caused.

And let me tell you, hearing about it in my class back home was terrible but being present before all these remarkable, honorary lives that lay silently in the still yet beautifully kept cemeteries that had positioned a gravestone for each and every brave fighter (apart from the German Cemetery as they had a 'mass grave' & the soldiers who were difficult to identify because of the lack of data recorded, and some whose bodies were never found) on metres and metres of land, one behind the other, it just made me realise how fortunate and grateful i am for how each and every one of these individuals who had fought their hardest through the most terrible and difficult conditions and circumstances, just so people like me and you could be stood here today living a free life.

If it wasn't for all those fighters, i can't imagine what the world would be like, considering how it would have definitely been a much different and difficult place to live in compared to today,

I thank each and every one of those souls, whether young or old, Jewish Christian or Muslim, Chinese French or English, female or male -all of them had fought through extreme times and sacrificed their lives and families just so we could live in a better world,

So thank you to all those fighters❤️Rest in peace

I took a few pictures of the places we visited, including

Feel free to take a look :)

1st Cemetery : Hyde Park Corner CWGC Cemetery

Approximately 11,000 brave soldiers lay in this cemetery

Some of these gravestones had messages written on the very bottom, these were passed on from their families or friends

"He did his duty. He did it well. For honour's cause he fought and fell"

This one in particular really touched me,

"His last message "I am all right. Keep cheery and bright"

2nd Cemetery : Saint Charles de Potyze French Military Cemetery

Approximately over 4,000 soldiers are buried here

It was beautiful to see how each individual's gravestone highlighted the significance of one's identity, as if they were buried in their own homes. It emphasised the determination and selflessness each soldier had to fight for a better world together as a team -no matter what background.

3rd Cemetery :Langemark German Military Cemetery

This grave was quite interesting in particular, as it was the only one out of all that we had visited, that was a 'Mass Grave' meaning that each individual here did not have a space or gravestone dedicated to themselves only. This was because it was demanded that the german memorial places were all taken away and just put all into a mass grave. There are more mass graves like this on other regions too.

Each block represented a university with all the names of the deaths of those who attended them

To think that all these people were studying and on their way to reveal new discoveries like maybe finding a cure for cancer or inventing a new way of making our lives much better in a sustainable way.

4th Cemetery : Tyne Cot CWGC Cemetery

(So sadly, my battery had died here and i didnt have my portable charger with me so i had to borrow my friend's camera, they came out slightly blue-ish but yeah)

So this was the last cemetery we visited. It's the biggest cemetery in the world with over ------

All i can say was that

i was simply astonished.

Passchendaele Museum :

Trenches

We did a bit of shopping here (check blogposy 'Belgium : Behind the scenes' for more on that)

The Menin Gate (Last Post Satient Ceremony) :

Lastly we visited The Menin Gate, where we were lucky enough to listen to a few thankful words in a silent hall with many other citizens. Some students in our school also participated in this ceremony.

(I didnt take much pictures of this place, but i did film it -so to watch the video scroll all the way down lol)

I didn't take as much pictures as i usually would have taken since i was mesmerised by the places we visited, i was just speechless as to how many deaths were just present before me.

I had the most insightful and greatest experiences whilst on this trip and i'll never forget about how it made me feel to be there. I'm also grateful for my teachers organising such a trip to allow me to experience this opportunity.

PS As i said one too many times before, you can watch the link down below to see the videos i took whilst being there :)